Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-29

and carry the election. A rich man may be
able and honest but it is his wealth and not
his character that secures his selection, in
the lack of general intelligence. An unedu-
Gated people as tickle and unreasonng as
the populace of Rome, will lift into the
highest trusts any fawning flattcrcr, like
Mark Antony, who fires their hopes with
dcccitful promises. The glory and sufetv of
free governments will perish when the citi-
zens lose their selfrcspect and power of
Judgment and honorable men will retire
from an unequal contest with the cunning
and brutality of the lords of corruption But
our peril from insufficient education is not
limited to political affairs nor does it arise
wholly from the imperfect training of our
native population. The ocean gates are
open and the irresponsible vandas of Eu-
rope and the vice-stceped myrmdons of
Asia are pouring through like sea weed into
the Sargossa. Vast organizations of these
unreasonng and unreasonable elements of
society, are breaking the peace and inter
ruptng the industrial prosperity over large
and popular sections of the country. This
violence and vice of Ignorance must be over
come by the force of our Puritan civilza-
ton, or the sterling qualities and splendid
promise of our opening century will go out
like II metcor's flash over darkened con
tnent That the executive legislative and
Judicial functions of popular government
may be discharged effectively and its for
eign relations maintained with strength and
dignity, its people must learn to dscrimn-
ate wisely and act with Il conscientious re
gard to their personal responsibilities. This
requires that the avenues of information
should be multiplied and an efc lent sys-
tenn of education be extended to every citi-
zen. It may he said that the members of
the medical profession, widely separated
and burdencd with special duties in the vii
lagos and quiet retreats of the country, can
do but little for the moral sanitation of a
continental republic But public opinion
and public conduct are but aggregations of
individual opinions and conduct, and must
he reformed and impregnated with the spir-
it of a higher life by personal influence and
action at the sources of power. Each like
the old prophet at the fountain of Jericho,
must cast salt into the springs and heal the
waters that flow among the hills, till they
unite in the mighty current of public senti-
ment We may take heart in rejecting
upon our labors that there is an infinite in
tcllgence that can trace back the streams
of influence to their responsible sources.
though beyond our limited vision We
must remember too, in estimating the meas
urc of our responsibility, that the imperish-
able products of science and art, the splen-
dor and wealth of an enduring literature,
the glory of heroic and godke achieve
mCnts, and the intellectual and spiritual
fruitage of civilization. which we shall send
down to other gencI atOns of people, must
spring from seed of our planting and ripen
in soil which we have been set to cultivate
by the master of the vineyard
But after all. our paramount work as
professional men must be in the communities
where we select our homes To harmonic
the inevitable discords of society To
strengthen the ties and swecten the JOYS of
domestic life; to cultivate hope in the de
srondent and virtue in the tempted: to give
courage to the unfortunate and temper the
pride of the prosperous: to plant high ideas
in the heart of youth and point the aged to
the rest that remaineth to the people of
God, these and such as these are the attend
ant duties of the good physician. within the
sphere of his special mission How exalted
is the privilege of such life. To help on
every material Improvement and make our
surroundings more beautiful, its IA noble end
of life, but there is something more noble,
more beautiful than even this. IF men
rial Objects" says De Tocqueville, lit is
probable that they would lose 10y degrees,
the art of producing them, and they would
enjoy them in the end, like the brutes with
out diSccrnment and without improve
ment
To inculcate sympathy with the suffering,
to guard with Jealousy the rights of the peo-
pie, to enthrone reason above the passions
of party to eXalt the desire of merit above
the ambition to impress upon men the
sanctity of property and the majesty of law.
while they agitate for the rights of labor, to
elevate private Judgment and personal in
tegrity out of the reach of political solicta-
ton and corruption, to educate the young
up to the measure of treeman's oblga
! tons, ~ create a popular taste for science
! and literature, and so bringing society into
communion with the best thought of allages.
, to counteract the undertaking tendency
of absorbing business and to lift the hearts
of our fellows above the world into rev
erent love of spiritual truth, are some of the
| higher functions of an American scholar in
our day. How shall we prepare ourselves
for such supreme responsibilities? Certain
ly not by drifting in the wake of popular
passions and prejudices. Contentment
with present attachments and the perfume
tory discharge of a round of recurring la
bors will never impart the faculty required
for the part we have chosen in this drama
! of actual life. Personal power is the
growth of manly and unhinching grappe
with obstacles that would arrest our prog
ress. Unborn Incidence must be conquered
by a voluntary acceptance of work and re-
sponsibilities that test to the utmost our
strength and courage. This is the beaten
path to an honorable and successful life.
Learning too is essential to the best work,
but there is no intutive knowledge. Work
unlocks the chambers of the past and max Is
us masters Of the wealth of the schools.
If we would enlighten others the flame
within ourselves must be constantly fed by
the best thought of all the centuries. 1t is
the thinker who awakens thought, the self
directing who points the way. Thought is
the ethereal power which transmuteS the ac-
tual into the ideal and, by a metempsychos
is more real than the dream of the Greek,
restores it to life again in the splendid
achievements of some heroic soul of a future
age. Beauty is born into poetry, passion